Hey everyone. I was wondering what you guys think of learnkendama.com? I saw that they sell natty kendamas for $12.99, what seems like an unbeatable prize for me. How do they play? Looking forward to read some experience of you guys!
I think at $4 shipping, it's a hella deal! But do check out the Exchange section too, you might find some really good gems there.
That site was a great idea that somewhere went wrong. It's a bunch of yoyo guys who don't really play kendama much so their videos call tricks weird names and something about it is weird to me. Their damas look like pretty cheap factory damas with shallow cups. I'd personally get something of Kendama Syndicate or check sweets or something for cheap damas.
IIRC they used to sell the Catchy Standard as their 'beginner' kendama. I wonder if the new LKs are rebranded Catchys. The Catchy Standard is a nice kendama with a really wide tama bevel for stalls.
One of my earliest kendamas was a Catchy Street. Has the most ridiculously huge base cup! It was stolen at a little fair thing so I didn't play it for more than a couple weeks, and that was near the beginning of my playing, so I don't have many opinions on it.
The Catchy Street is the wood version of the Air and all the cups are super-sized. It also has a hole drilled in the base cup to lighten it. It's pretty handy for practicing any kind of base cup landings but the rubberized paint doesn't seem to hold up as well as some we've had in the shop.
I don't think it's that bad considering that they do have a few damas that you can't really find anymore on the original websites, but I would probably go to Amazon or eBay first before turning to Learnkendama.com.
I have the Lk standard and its great the paint isn't tacky but it's not like kusa silk I've had mine for five months with a glued spike and it's awesome I do recomend
I would just order kendamas straight from their original seller. In my opinion it seems better to that then order from a third-party site but they seem pretty trustworthy.
Thanks y'all for your feedback. I think they have some good tutorials even if they name the tricks different sometimes. The whole things gives me a little weird feeling too, as @Dillonjohns79 stated it before. For the natty i want to buy i think i stick with @connor sullivan 's suggestion an buy it directly from the oroginal seller though...
@Pyromawn I'm pretty sure they're a regular online retailer. They likely get the name brand items from the original manufacturers or distributors just like other shops. Their house brand "LK" stuff is probably just ordered direct from the maker.
I will says this again because it's a great place to buy cheap NICE kens. Kendamasyndicate.com @Pyromawn ... $10 dama deals, they have BLK OG hardwoods for $10 with $5 shipping
it seems like people come to kendama from three ways, either from a yo-yo / juggling influence, or like a freestyle / skate / bike ski influence. Or they're just big into Japanese culture. This site was created for mostly the freestyle school of influence. No hate to the other schools, I just don't see them being as having the potential to spread the sport quite as broad. to that end I haven't spent too much time on learnkendama.com I've also never owned a catchy
To be honest the owners of learnkendama are yoyo players. They don't really know much about kendama. Sure they have some players but their forte is yoyos. They make amazing yoyo tutorials. But they make some pretty weird kendama tutorials. They rename the tricks, as @Dillonjohns79 mentioned. Honestly, buy on Amazon or look for some sales if you wanna get something good and cheap